BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 128
Author: Bradford (D)
Amended: 9/3/13 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 3-3, 6/11/13 (FAIL)
AYES: Hancock, Anderson, Block
NOES: De León, Knight, Liu
NO VOTE RECORDED: Steinberg
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 4-2, 6/25/13
AYES: Hancock, Anderson, Block, Steinberg
NOES: De León, Knight
NO VOTE RECORDED: Liu
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-0, 8/30/13
AYES: De León, Walters, Hill, Lara, Steinberg
NO VOTE RECORDED: Gaines, Padilla
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 62-4, 5/28/13 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Peace officers: airport law enforcement
SOURCE : Los Angeles Airport Peace Officers Association
DIGEST : This bill changes the peace officer status of airport
law enforcement officers regularly employed by Los Angeles World
Airport (LAWA) to peace officers whose authority extends to any
place in California, as specified.
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ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Provides that the following are peace officers, who may carry
firearms only if authorized and under terms and conditions
specified by their employing agency, whose authority extends
to any place in California for the purpose of performing
their primary duty, or when making an arrest for a public
offense where there is immediate danger to a person or
property or to prevent the perpetrator's escape, as
specified, or during a state of emergency, as specified:
A. Members of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit
District Police Department if their primary duty is
enforcement of the law in or about property owned,
operated or administered by the district or when
performing a necessary duty with respect to patrons,
employees and properties of the district.
B. Harbor or port police if their primary duty is
enforcement of law in or about property owned, operated
or administered by harbor or port or when performing a
necessary duty with respect to patrons, employees and
properties of the harbor or port.
C. Transit police officers or peace offices of a county,
city, transit development board or district if the
primary duty is the enforcement of the law in or abut
property owned, operated or administered by the
employing agency or when performing a necessary duty
with respect to patrons, employees and properties of the
employing agency.
D. Persons employed as airport law enforcement officers
by a city, county or district operating the airport or a
joint powers agency operating the airport if their
primary duty is the enforcement of the law in or about
property owned, operated and administered by the
employing agency or when performing a necessary duty
with respect to patrons, employees and properties of the
employing agency.
E. Railroad police officers commissioned by the Governor
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if their primary duty is the enforcement of the law in
or about property owned, operated or administered by the
employing agency or when performing necessary duties
with respect to patrons, employees and properties of the
employing agency.
2. Declares specific persons to be peace officers: any sheriff,
undersheriff, deputy sheriff, chief of police, officer of
municipal public safety agency who performs police functions,
police officer, officer of the San Diego Unified Port
District Harbor Police, marshal or deputy marshal of a
superior court or county, port warden or port police office
of the Harbor Department of the City of Los Angeles, or
inspector or investigator employed in that capacity in the
office of the district attorney. Provides that the authority
of these peace officers extends to any place in California as
follows. (Penal Code [PEN] Section 830.1(a))
A. As to a public offense committed or which there is
probable cause to believe has been committed within the
political subdivision that employs the peace officer or
in which the peace officer serves. (PEN Section
830.1(a)(1))
B. Where the peace officer has prior consent of the
chief of police or chief, director or chief executive
officer of a consolidated municipal public safety
agency, or person authorized by him/her to give consent
if the place is within a city or of the sheriff, or
person authorized by him/her to give consent if the
place is within a county. (PEN Section 830.1(a)(2))
C. As to a public offense committed or which there is
probable cause to believe has been committed in the
peace officer's presence, and with respect to which
there is immediate danger to person or property, or of
the perpetrator's escape. (PEN Section 13540(b))
3. Provides that in order to change peace officer designation or
status, the Commission on Peace Officers Standards and
Training (POST) must be requested to undertake a study to
assess the need for such a change and requires POST to
undertake the study in accordance with its regulations. (PEN
Section 1354(b))
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This bill:
1.Changes the peace officer status of airport law enforcement
officers regularly employed by LAWA to peace officers whose
authority extends to any place in California, as specified.
2.Defines "LAWA" as the department of the City of Los Angeles
that owns and operates the Los Angeles International Airport,
the Ontario International Airport, the Palmdale Regional
Airport, and the Van Nuys Airport.
3.States that the provisions of this bill become inoperative on
or before April 1, 2014, if the City of Los Angeles does not
take the necessary actions, as specified, and the Inspector
General of the Los Angeles Police Commission does not post
that action on its Internet Web site. Repeals the bill's
provisions on January 1, 2015, unless a later enacted statute
(prior to January 1, 2015) deletes or extends the inoperative
and repeal dates.
4.Makes legislative findings and declarations relating to law
enforcement at the Los Angeles International Airport.
Background
POST Feasibility Study . POST conducts feasibility studies when
a change of designation is requested regarding an existing peace
officer position. LAWA requested a feasibility study regarding
a change in designation for LAWA airport law enforcement
officers from PEN Section 830.33 to PEN Section 830.1. POST
completed this study on June 1, 2005.
At the conclusion of their study, POST recommended that LAWA
police officers be designated as peace officers under PEN
Section 830.1. The study included extensive interviews with
LAWA officers, the Los Angeles Police Department, and other
local law enforcement and federal law enforcement agencies. The
report acknowledged that the duties and responsibilities of LAWA
officers stem from the Airport Commission and cited 10 duties
and responsibilities which require the additional authority
provided by a PEN Section 830.1 designation:
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The need to possess explosives for training canines for bomb
detection.
The duty to seize explosives and incendiary devices,
including unclassified explosives.
The need to possess diversionary devices to immediately
control an incident at airports.
The duty to conduct background investigations on people
working at airports in accordance with the Federal
Transportation Security Agency regulations.
The authority for an officer to seize firearms or other
deadly weapons at the scene of domestic violence calls in and
around airport terminals, in residential areas owned by
airports and in businesses under LAWA's control.
The responsibility to keep unsafe vehicles off public roads
in and around airport property and to prevent them from
entering airports.
The function of preventing gridlock on roads leading to and
from airports.
The prevention, enforcement and investigation of all laws
regarding making and giving false bomb reports.
The need to issue a citation to a person involved in a
traffic accident where there is reasonable cause to believe
the person committed a vehicular misdemeanor or infraction.
(POST, A Report to the Legislature and the Los Angeles
Airport Police Department on Peace Officer Feasibility Study
(June 1, 2005).)
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local:
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No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, unknown,
future costs potentially in excess of $150,000 (Special Fund*)
to the extent the upgraded peace officer status of LAWA law
enforcement officers results in state reimbursement from POST to
LAWA for enhanced investigative/tactical training.
*Peace Officers' Training Fund
SUPPORT : (Verified 9/3/13)
Los Angeles Airport Peace Officers' Association (source)
Airport Police Command Officer's Association of Los Angeles
Alliance for a Regional Solution to Airport Congestion
Barstow Police Officer's Association
Chief of Los Angeles Port Police
Chief of Police of the LAWAs
Chula Vista Police Officers Association
City of Inglewood, Mayor James T. Butts
City of Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garcetti
Deputy Sheriff's Association of Alameda County
Fresno Deputy Sheriff's Association
Gardena Police Officer's Association
Inglewood Police Officers Association
Irwindale Police Officer's Association
Los Angeles Airport Police Supervisor's Association
Los Angeles City Councilmember Eric Garcetti
Los Angeles Detention Officers Association
Los Angeles Police Chief
Los Angeles Police Department
Los Angeles World Airports
Neighborhood Council of Westchester Playa
Oakland Police Officers Association
Peace Officers Research Association of California
San Bernardino Police Officers Association
Torrance Police Officers' Association
Tulare County DSA
Westchester Democratic Club
OPPOSITION : (Verified 9/3/13)
Los Angeles Police Protective League
Riverside Sheriffs Association
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ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The Los Angeles Airport Peace Officers
Association states:
As you are aware, AB 128 would codify a recommendation by
the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training
(POST), California's leading authority on law enforcement,
to classify the LAXPD within the California Penal Code
830.1, providing our officers official certification to the
standard in our state. It will afford airport police the
respect reflective of their training and education and
provide the citizens they serve services important to their
mission.
Although post has received requests by various law
enforcement agencies throughout the state for a similar
classification, only three entities have fulfilled the
rigorous requirements established by POST to receive a
recommended change to 830.1 status: Los Angeles Port
Police, the San Diego Airport and Harbor Police, and the
LAXPD. The state has never refused a POST recommendation
for 830.1 status.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The Riverside Sheriffs Association
states:
Last year, serious concerns about Los Angeles International
Airport security prompted Los Angeles Mayor Antonio
Villaraigosa to appoint a 26 member "Blue Ribbon" Commission
to study LAX and to report back to the Mayor and City
Council as soon as feasible. There are many complex
security, deployment, and fiscal implications involved,
including consideration of upgrading the Los Angeles
International World Airport (LAWA) police to Penal Code
830.1 status. The issue of a merger of LAWA into LAPD is
still one being actively considered by the Mayor and the
City. AB 128 would "end run" this local process,
undermining local control!
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 62-4, 5/28/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Blumenfield,
Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley,
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Dahle, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Beth Gaines,
Garcia, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Hagman, Hall, Jones,
Levine, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Medina, Mitchell,
Morrell, Mullin, Nazarian, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, V.
Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner,
Stone, Ting, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams,
Yamada, John A. Pérez
NOES: Donnelly, Gatto, Harkey, Mansoor
NO VOTE RECORDED: Allen, Bloom, Daly, Gorell, Grove, Roger
Hernández, Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Linder, Melendez, Muratsuchi,
Nestande, Wagner, Vacancy
JG:MW:d:n 9/3/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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